WHETHER because of deep personal ambition or a sense of having come to American cinema as an outsider, the New Zealand-born Russell Crowe's role choices have often suggested a desire to belong to great Hollywood traditions.

Gladiator looked back to historical blockbusters such as Cleopatra and Ben-Hur, Cinderella Man joined the line of boxing movies that includes Raging Bull, and Robin Hood directly overlapped with one of the signature performances of an earlier leading man from the Antipodes, Errol Flynn. Even Crowe's recent cameo in Man Of Steel – as Superman's dad – happened to take on a part formerly played by a cinematic legend, Marlon Brando.

And now the history man seems to be at it again. His big 2014 release, Noah, channels Charlton Heston and the biblical extravaganzas such as Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, that were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. By striking coincidence, Crowe as Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky, will be going head to head with Christian Bale as Moses in Ridley Scott's Exodus, another retro-religious film.

As these movies follow the 10-hour American series The Bible, it's clear that Christianity is hot in US culture for reasons that may combine the current cultural power of the religious right, the cheapness of the material (scripture is out of copyright) and the fact that many of the set pieces in the good book – floods, plagues, sieges at walled cities – happily parallel the plots of disaster movies.

Revealingly, the marketing line on Noah, in posters and an early trailer, presents the bearded boat-builder as "a man trying to protect his family", and one of the clips released so far shows Crowe delivering the line, "It begins!", which traditionally cues the unleashing of the special effects in apocalyptic films. The biblical story of the Flood is essentially The Day After Tomorrow with a bit of a theological subplot about divine intervention.

Actors like to talk about their character's "arc" and, in playing someone who has an ark as well, Crowe has selected a figure with many contemporary resonances. The raging elements against which the rain-lashed father fights can surely be taken – if members of the audience so choose – as metaphors for terrorism, the economy or, indeed, in these environmentally conscious times, the weather.

For Crowe, Noah feels like a canny choice. It is a role in which for an actor suddenly to look older – Crowe will reach 50 next year – will be regarded as realism rather than deterioration; it would look odd if he hadn't gone grey and whiskery. And Noah's arc requires him to be tremendously brave and macho, while also demonstrating notable kindness to animals: a crowd-pleasing combination of attitudes that would be hard to bring off in, for example, a film about a dad protecting his kids against terrorists in modern Detroit, Michigan.

Ever since Robin Hood, the accent has been on the performer's vocal choices, and the trailer suggests that Crowe has gone for a throaty rumble that might well be the speaking voice of a man who has spent a lot of time persuading large and dangerous animals to walk up a plank in pairs.

And, for Crowe, the performances continue to come in two-by-two: walking by the side of Flynn in Robin Hood, Richard Burton in Gladiator, Brando in Man Of Steel and, now, Charlton Heston in Noah. – Guardian News & Media

SIENNA Miller had looks, talent and a succession of steamy affairs with the likes of Jude Law and Daniel Craig.

Yet the English stunner's tabloid infamy didn't catapult her to stardom and Miller admits in a new interview with Esquire UK that her rocky off-camera life got in the way of her career.

"I sabotaged things," Miller tells the magazine. "I burnt a lot of bridges. On set, I was first to arrive, last to leave, best friends with the crew, totally professional, no (messing) around," she adds.

"But when I wasn't at work, I wasn't behaving the way you should. I'm very lucky to have a second chance in that town."

Miller hasn't been in a mainstream film since 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, but in the ensuing years she did manage to bring some personal stability to her life, marrying actor Tom Sturridge and giving birth to a daughter, Marlowe, in 2012.

She also has a series of interesting roles in the works that she hopes will return her to the limelight – including the wrestling drama Foxcatcher opposite Channing Tatum and the comedy Business Trip alongside Vince Vaughn.

Miller has even made peace with Law, with whom she had an on again, off again relationship.

"I'm great friends with him and with his children," Miller told Esquire. "I love them, madly. Just huge love and respect for all of them."

It's not all soul-searching. Miller shows her newfound maturity and professional contrition by being photographed topless. – Reuters

NEW YORK: The adopted daughter of Woody Allen has spoken for the first time about the alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of the legendary Hollywood director during her childhood.

In an open letter published on a New York Times blog, Dylan Farrow, adopted by Allen during his relationship with actress Mia Farrow, detailed being abused by the director when she was seven years old.

"He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother's electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me," Farrow, 28, wrote in the letter.

"He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we'd go to Paris and I'd be a star in his movies."

It is the first time Dylan Farrow has spoken publicly about the unproven allegations of abuse which emerged more than two decades ago in the aftermath of Allen's acrimonious split with Mia Farrow in 1992.

Allen, 78, who left Mia Farrow after starting a relationship with the actress's adopted daughter from a previous marriage, Soon-Yi Previn, has always vigorously denied abusing Dylan Farrow.

A New York judge in the 1994 custody battle between Allen and Farrow ruled that the abuse allegations were inconclusive, but at the same time lambasted the director as "self-absorbed, untrustworthy and insensitive."

Allen's representatives could not be immediately reached for comment on Saturday after Dylan Farrow's revelations. The New York Times reported that he had refused to comment.

His adopted daughter accused the Hollywood establishment of sweeping Allen's alleged crimes under the carpet by continuing to honor his films.

The director's latest movie, Blue Jasmine, is nominated for three Academy Awards at next month's Oscars, including best original screenplay for the director.

Farrow called on three of the stars of Blue Jasmine - Australian actress Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin and Louis C.K. - to examine their relationship with Allen, asking pointedly: "What if it had been your child?"

"Woody Allen was never convicted of any crime. That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up," she wrote.

"That torment was made worse by Hollywood. All but a precious few (my heroes) turned a blind eye. Most found it easier to accept the ambiguity, to say, 'who can say what happened,' to pretend that nothing was wrong.

"Actors praised him at awards shows. Networks put him on TV. Critics put him in magazines.

"Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse."

Allen was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes in Beverly Hills last month, an honor that was collected by his former partner and muse Diane Keaton.

At the time, both Mia Farrow and her son, Ronan Farrow, slammed the award.

"Missed the Woody Allen tribute," Ronan Farrow remarked on Twitter. "Did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age seven before or after Annie Hall?"

Mia Farrow later added: ":A woman has publicly detailed Woody Allen's molestation of her at age seven. Golden Globe tribute showed contempt for her and all abuse survivors."

When the abuse allegations first surfaced in 1992, Allen said they had been manufactured by Mia Farrow as part of the couple's custody battle.

"This is an unconscionable and gruesomely damaging manipulation of innocent children for vindictive and self-serving motives," Allen said in a statement at the time. - AFP